I have two questions. One is how to replace the blubs in the tail lights on a 1996 Avalon XLS. It's my daughters car and I took a quick look at it and didn't see any way to do it from the outside. I looked in the trunk and pulled the carpeting away and found no way either. I'm assuming you have to remove the nuts on those studs and remove the whole assemblely to get at the blubs. Is this right ?
Second thing is her cigarette lighter is dead and she would like to plug her cell phone charger into it. I can't figure out how to get the ash tray out to get to it. Thank you.

The taillight housing has two bolts that must be undone to remove it to change the lights - (seen in the pic below) remove the bolts and then swing the housing towards the outside edge of the car as there are two pins on the inside body edge of the housing that hold it to the body there.

The cig lighter is just a simple system so assuming the fuse is good (5 Amp, #32 in the inside fuse block) then I would suspect fried wiring to the lighter itself or maybe a shorted out lighter element? Are all the other things attached to the cig lighter fuse still working? (clock, ECT transmission switch, glove box light, etc.)

When my daughter brought her car here the other day for me to put new brake pads on, is when I noticed there was a bulb out. By time I noticed it, it was already dark out so I didn't get to inspect it very well. When she brings it back this week I'll look for those two bolts. As far as the cigarette lighter goes, the fuses are good and everything else is working. I checked the under dash and under hood fuses. The problem has to be in the lighter socket itself. When I googled the problem I found a Q&A site where a guy said that on his, the wire had come off the back of the socket. His short explanation of how to get the ash tray out to get to the lighter socket didn't hold true for mine. He said there's a screw on it somewhere to get it out, but I can't find it. Thank you for the picture of the tail light.

My situation is like Bruce60's--I just bought a super clean 1995 XL and have the same issue with my cigarette lighter. I tried to plug in my Nuvi GPS and it's not getting juice and the fuses are good and everything else works. Anybody know the way to get to the back of the cigarette lighter plug?

I wish I could help you but I didn't get the chance to figure out what the problem was with the lighter. The reason for that was that some SOB ran a red light in front of my daughter and the car was totaled. The SOB had no insurance and mine wouldn't cover it. It broke my heart. It was a wonderful car.

I wish I could help you but I didn't get the chance to figure out what the problem was with the lighter. The reason for that was that some SOB ran a red light in front of my daughter and the car was totaled. The SOB had no insurance and mine wouldn't cover it. It broke my heart. It was a wonderful car.

Dang it, hope she's alright!!!!

Did she carry "under-insured/uninsured" coverage... to backcharge to her insurance carrier?

Bruce60, What BBQ Bandit said. Hope your daughter is OK and the cops should throw away the key on the clown driving without insurance. Too bad about the car--these are really nice and I hate to hear about any of them getting wrecked....

Chunkywolf, thanks heaps for the info/link. Looks like getting to the backend of that cigarette lighter socket might be easier just taking it out of that sliding track it's in

Yes she is fine thank you. Thank god the air bag deployed. I'm sure it saved her from any serious injury. The cop loaded the SOB down with tickets but I don't think he was arrested. Being it was a 1996 my insurance company frowned on putting too much coverage on it as it would have cost a small fortune compared to what I would get back in the event. Her grand paw found her a super clean 02 Saturn SL2 for a good price and helped me get it for her. I'm trying to save up some money so I can go out looking for another Avalon just like it. Thanks guys.

Using a small+very thin long flatblade screwdriver I was able to remove the entire sliding ashtray/lighter assembly out of my '95 Avalon.* It wasn't that difficult at all--just start on the left side first and then the right. Insert the screwdriver in just above the track on the side of the sliding ashtray assembly (where the sliding action occurs) and with a light prying motion move the screwdriver handle to the left [when doing the left side] while at the same time using your other hand to gently pull outward [toward you] on the left front of the ashtray/lighter assembly. After the ashtray/lighter assembly pops out just slightly, repeat this process on the right side and move the screwdriver handle to the right with a light prying motion to get the right side of the astray/lighter assembly to pop out slightly. When this "gives" on the right side all you have to do then is gently pull the center of the astray/lighter assembly out [towards the rear of the car]. Again, gentleness is important here--if you don't like torn up/broken trim/assemblies etc.

Anyway, after pulling the astray/lighter assembly I was able to see that the back end of the cigarette lighter socket was connected to the wire that is supposed to supply power. Now if I just had the VOM I left in my Blazer that died .... I'll get another VOM and check and see if this powerwire has juice--if it does, there is an open in the wire down to the socket or the connection at the socket is bad or the socket needs replacing--it's just a matter of tracing it down at this point. I will be DELIGHTED to have a working cig lighter again so my Nuvi will work and I can charge my iPhone......

*before you begin you may want to maximize your working space by taking the car out of park and moving the gear selector [presuming you have a floor shift!] down to "1". Of course you will want to /apply the parking brake/chock wheels first if you are any kind of incline or think the car might roll [ALWAYS THINK SAFETY FIRST!].

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